The man has told the hearing staff at the home in Ipswich "would have been more suitably engaged in a Middle Ages slavery camp".

He says boys were bashed and raped, and remembers being locked in solitary confinement for three days after fighting with some boys who were racially abusing him.

"I remember the floor of the room being wooden and full of splinters," he told the hearing.

"There was no light, no toilet, not even a bucket. If you had to go to the toilet, you had to just go and the army officers would throw some newspaper at you to clean it up.

"You had to sleep on that same floor that you'd been forced to go to the toilet on."

Salvation Army apologised for 'unpleasant' experiences

JE complained to the Salvation Army in 2008.

The commission has been told the organisation apologised for any "unpleasant" experiences, but offered no compensation because it could not identify the room where he was confined.

"To me, it sounded like a letter that you get from a hotel when you complain about the room," JE told the hearing.

"I did not consider it an adequate apology, not by a long shot."

JE wrote back to the Salvation Army, complaining the organisation had not followed its complaints handling process. He was eventually paid $20,000.

If I see one of those uniforms come within a metre of me, you'd better be there.

Sex abuse victim JE

"In my experience, the Salvation Army are awful people to deal with," he said.

Ms Eastman asked JE whether it would help him if he spoke to senior staff from the organisation, some of whom were in the room.

"If I see one of those uniforms come within a metre of me, you'd better be there," he replied.

The 10th royal commission inquiry, and the second concerning the Salvation Army, is examining the way the religious organisation handled both historical and more recent claims of child sexual abuse.

It aims to explore the experiences of victims, who have been through the Salvation Army's claims process - as well as review disciplinary steps taken against the alleged perpetrators.

The complaints process has been developed substantially since the 1990s due to an increase in claims, including the establishment of the Personal Injuries Complaints Committee in 1997.

The committee was offering small amounts of money to victims by 2000, and the amount has steadily increased, but some victims have told the commission they felt "worse off" after going through the process.

Victims have given evidence saying the amount of compensation was inconsistent with other people who had endured similar trauma, and the apology from the Salvation Army seemed trivial.